ham actor

【英文解釋】an unskilled actor who overacts

【中文解釋】二流演員

【短語來源】Ham is an abbreviation of the American "hamfatter", an ineffective actor(1887). The idea may have been that hamfat was a poor substitute for good lean ham, so a hamfatter was by definition second-rate. An alternative explanation is that 19th century black-face comedians, generally among the least distinguished of theatrical performers, used hamfat on their faces as a base for their burnt-cork make-up and removal cream, and that this gave them their derogatory name.

補(bǔ)充：A radio-ham, on the other hand,seem to have become so called from being an amateur.
Ham is also used adjectively(a ham actor)and as a verb(often ham it up, meaning overact)from the senses already quoted.

ham是美式英語hamfatter的縮略語，hamfatter是指沒水平的演員。一說起ham這個詞，大家腦海中的第一印象就是火腿，呵呵，不錯，不過它還有一種意思，就是指拙劣演員（尤指表演過火者），而hamfat就是指好演員的替補(bǔ)，也就被定義為二等啦。而另外一種解釋呢，就是十九世紀(jì)期間，美國一些滑稽演奏團(tuán)常有白人把臉涂黑，演奏黑人音樂。這些假黑人要用火腿油(hamfat)卸去臉上的妝，所以他們演唱的歌曲之中有一首就叫做The Hamfat Man(《火腿油的人》)。這些“火腿油的人”表演一般都很夸張，人們于是就把這類三流演員叫做ham actors了。
ham還可以做形容詞，如a ham factor，一個拙劣的演員。也可作動詞，意思是“拙劣或過火地扮演(某角色)”。

【有例有句】He hammed the part of Romeo.

他扮演羅密歐，演得極劣。